American film actress
Sister of Sally ONeil.
She was a freshman in high school when Hal Roach selected her to be in the "Our Gang" comedies.
Was one of 11 children. Her mother, Hannah Kelly, was forced to give up her singing career with the Metropolitan Opera in order to raise her children after her husband, Thomas Francis Noonan, a judge in Bayonne, NJ, died.
She and her two sisters all went into show business. Sister Isabelle retired young. Molly and her other successful actress sister, Virginia (renamed Sally ONeil Keenan) both became "Wampas Baby Stars" -- Sally in 1926 and Molly in 1928. They appeared together in two films: The Lovelorn and Sisters (1930) .
Her first husband was comedian Jack Durant , who resembled Clark Gable. They had four children: three daughters and a son.
Began in Hal Roach shorts.
It is rumored she didnt achieve stardom because she added some weight due to her adolescence. The studio punished her by holding back important film offers.
In order to win the tough girl heroine role in The Patent Leather Kid she had to compete with 2,000 contenders in an audition.
